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Camping sucks
It's just not fun. In CTF it's a bit of a problem, but you can help that. Don't put the bases close together, and do NOT put key items (carrots, powerups) at safe distance from the bases because the campers will most likely use them more often than defenders. Place key items along the main routes of the level, but do not put too much along one route or else you will get campers that are fully loaded. Make flags easy to attack by placing them in "unsafe" places, but still allow them to be defendable. KEEP BASES AS DISTANT AS POSSIBLE FROM ENEMY START POSITIONS.
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Isn't camping a cheap strategy that so many people love?
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Flow
I'm somewhat obsessed with flow, and a lot of the things I did in some of my old levels have caught on and become commonplace in todays CTF levels. Some of those things are good, some of them are bad. PLEASE don't overuse float up events to make your level easy to move around in. It's annoying if you can notice them. With that said, try to keep a level fluid, but don't make it TOO easy. I suggest keeping the main routes with good flow, but make it so with a bit of work a player can also use all sorts of tricks to their advantage. Basically, keep a good balance. I've gone overboard with flow before, and it makes levels seem a bit bland. A level with bad flow will be annoying to play in, though.
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Any level flows well when practiced enough. So why not make people get used to obstacles? First impressions help a lot? A level that has orginal ideas implemented has to be learned to some extend; Most people don't take too well to original ideas at first but will eventually like them. So screw good first impressions.
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Size
Some people seem to think there is an ideal size for a level. There isn't. If your level is open, then it's a good idea to make a level big. If the level is mostly cramped corridors, then you don't need so much real estate. With that said, any size is good, and we need more big CTF levels for things like JDC.
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Cramped corridors may make a small level slow the time for one to get to one point to another and give one more options and routes to take yet will make it a lot hader to avoid getting hit with so little room, dodging is difficult to impossible. Maybe that negates your point that a small level could work, maybe it's just better to make bigger levels.
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Eyecandy is nice but can get annoying
Please don't feel like you need to use every layer. I hate it when eyecandy goes in front of the main level. Don't overuse layers 1 to 3 and do not clutter the background with tiles that belong in layer 4. Save all of that for single player. In multiplayer, people want to PLAY, not all the pretty scenery.
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I've noticed levels that use excessive eyecandy make the level confusing only for a period of time until the player adapts to it. I know, some people will bring up Carrottus to the Max by JmaN, but that level can be learned as well.
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